Arthur jack mokinley



' 1,566,494 Dec' 22 1925' A. J. MCKINLEY BELT TIGHTENER Filed July 18, 1921 I l I N V EN TOR 7J/ZAM Patented Dec. 22, 1925-.Y

AuNrrr-:D 'STATI-:s

ARTHURJACK McKINLEY, or sAN FRANCISCO, .cALIFon'N-IA, AssIGNoR 'ro Wrzsr EBN STATES MACHXNE 0F UTAH. l

BELT TIGHTENER.

Appiiation filed July 18, 1921. rserai'rro. 485725 if To all wwm t may concern: 'n

Be it known that I,- ARTHUR J. MCKIN- LEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented a new and useful Belt Tightener, of which the following is aspecification. y

This invention relates to powerftransmiting apparatus and more particularly to means for automatically and constantly controlling the tension of an endless belt and especially belts having a quarter twist in their circuit. f i

It is an object of the present invention to vided with automatically acting gree of tension in a driving belt.

lIt is a further object of theV invention'to provide a device of this kind which may be readily adapted to standard Organizations with but a small degree of change in an organization, either in original construction -of the same or while being installed yor after installation.

It is, further, an object to pro-vide a takeup or tightener attachment that can be applied with a minimum degree of cost and at small loss of time.' y

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which with the foregoing, will be. made manifest in the following description of the preferred form of the invention, which is illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood that it; is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment shown by the said drawings and descriptions, as variations may be adopted Within the scope of the inventions as set forth in the claims. v y

Figure l illustrates a belt of the quarter turn type in which the invention is shown as utilized. v

Fig. 2 is a plan view of an installation omitting the belt.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of Fig. 2; a part of the belt being indicatedin dotted lines.

It is especially desirable in the operation of high speed machinery such, for instance, as sugar centrifugals to provide means for constantly and yieldingly maintaining a substantially uniform degree of tension in an COMPANY, orsAL'T LAKE',C 1TY, UTAH,"A coaronA'rroN Y y f endless driving belt; y In the vinstallation and operation rofY sugar centrifugals 'ai heavy` Ybelt is'employed `running between la driving i motor or other agent and a drivingjpulley on the shaftofthe centrifugal machine and ordinarily, in order to secure' aV high degree'v of friction and driving efficiency, an idler is rigidly -mountedjcont1guous to the drivlngwheel of the centrifugal so asto increase the length of the bight of the -belt encom-y,v

passing thepulleybeing driven; Owingtov i ,y thevrigid installation of the idler, rapid wear and deterioration'ofthe belt is caused because of the variationsA 1n tension incident to operation."

signed Lto utilize, as far as practicab le,the

Thedevice ofthe Apresent invention is destandard equipments, as, for instance,l in

sugar Vmill centrifugals, but at the same time,

Hmaterially improve the `eliiciency and'flife `of the apparatus by yieldingly mountingthe tension idler. l

`Inth'e illustrated form of-thelinvention,A

a quarter twist belt `B is shown as rbeing driven by a motor' pulley wheel I/V yfrom' which the belt leads to af master pulley P on a' centrifugal machine shaft. Disposed to one side of the pulley P is an idler I, ordinarily rigidly mounted. l

In the present invention the idler I, is mounted in a suspending bearing 2 bolted kas at 3, to a slide 4, having a sunken portion 5 in which the heads of the bolts 3 are arranged. The slide 4, has at opposite ends, bolts 6, which pass through the end ianges of the slide, which ianges bear against the finished bottom of a bracket orl frame 7, that is bolted or otherwise secured as at 8y to a structural frame part of the mill, as a channel iron 49.

The frame 7 is shown as provided with a f the belt B, a suitable means is utilized,

Which in the present case is shown `as in the form of a belt crank or Lshaped lever 11, yhaving' a vertical arm fulcrumed on a pivot or rocker rod 12, Which may be mount;

ed in the ends of apair of bracket arms 13, Which are secured in the present case b y the bolts 8 to the top of the structural frame or channelsiron 9. The longer and horizontally extending arm of the lever 1l is provided with means yacting normally to pull the arm downwardly and thrust the toe 11a of the 'lever against the upwardly extending contiguous shoe. 10. The actuating means in the present case is shown as a Weight 15.l o

Frein the above it will be seen that the slide 4L is `adapted to shift to and fro according to variations in the action of the belt B, running over the idler I, and the belt is placed substantially under a constant and given pressure Aby lmeans of the Weighted lever arm 11, Which tends toshift the slide `4L and thrust Vthe idler toward the adjacent side Vof the machine pulley P.

In this disclosure of the invention, the 'frame 7, the slide l With the hangerand the `pulley are all of Well 4known and leXtensively used for-m and to these are readily applied the shifting vlever 4 With theshoes 10 and their respective bolts 6. Therefore,

but little change vis -made in the construction of the usual equipment.

TWhat is claimed is:

1. A belt tightening device including, in combination, a fixed frame provided with guideways, a hanger rfor the idler, shoes operating inA the guideways and to Which vthe hanger is attached so as to be slidable on said frame and suspended therebelow, and means mounted o n and above the frame and operative to constantly force the hanger inA one direction along the guideways of the ranjxe to maintain the belt in'tightened condition; said means including a yieldingly operative arm engaging oneA of the slices.

2. A belt tightening device including, in combination, a fixed frame provided with guideways, a hanger arranged under the iframe for thel idler, shoes operating in the guideways and to which the hanger is attached so as to be slidable along said frame,

and means operative to constantly force the hanger in one direction alongthe guideways or' the frame to maintain the belt in tightened condition; said means inoludinga bell cranklever pivoted on and above the iframe and having one end engaging one of the shoes and yielding-ly operative to press against the shoe.

3. A belt tightening device including, i-n combination, a fixed frame provided With guideways, a hanger for the idler, shoes operating in the guideways and to which the hanger isattached so as to be slidable along and below said frame, and means above theframe, operative to constantly force the hanger in one direction along the guide-V 

